LATELY, we can’t listen to the “Mike and the Mad Dog Show” for more than a few minutes without wondering where the old Mike Francesa went.

Francesa’s greatest virtues as a broadcaster – those that es-tablished and sustained him as an important voice of New York sports – exist today in a diminished state. Keen perspectives, once his specialty, have been supplanted by dubious rationalizations. Once a champion of fans and issues, he’s now more inclined to champion himself, and in an imperious, haughty manner.

Tuesday afternoon, in a four- or five-minute segment, Francesa, working solo, provided ample evidence of a fellow stuck in his own mud.

It began with a call from a man who asked Francesa why he began to refer to Bill Parcells’ Jets as “we,” when he has criticized team broadcasters for referring to the teams they cover as “we.” Pretty good question.

Francesa responded with an absurd explanation. He said that in his capacity as a talk-show host, he doesn’t have to be objective. Team broadcasters, he said, are expected to be objective because they’re reporting games to audiences.

First of all – and Francesa knows this – many, if not most team broadcasters are hired by the teams for which they work. While it would be nice if they were all objective in deference to both their audiences and the broadcasting profession, few are. In fact, as recent events have proven, the careers of objective team broadcasters are at greater risk than those who perform as shills.

As for a serious sports show host referring to a local team as “we” – and Francesa knows this, too – that’s the last thing anyone would consider doing to his or her reputation.

Francesa, like newspaper columnists, is paid for his opinion. He’s expected to provide his point of view. And while Francesa certainly doesn’t hide the fact that he and Parcells are so close that he openly, even blindly roots for the Jets, referring to the team as “we” leaps southward across a line that credible broadcasters assiduously avoid.

Imagine if in this newspaper a sports columnist, based on his or her high personal regard for Joe Torre, began to refer to the Yankees as “we.” His or her credibility, even among Yankee fans, would be shot.

Francesa knows that “we,” in his case, is inexcusable. He’s not an employee of the Jets. He knows that team broadcasters, as employees of the team or because they’ve been hired at the insistence of the team, are inclined to call teams “we” for more legitimate, albeit unprofessional reasons. Yet, Tuesday, Francesa told his audience the exact opposite.

Then things grew worse.

Based on Francesa’s words, the same caller was on seven-second delay when he tried to sneak in one of those tired Howard Stern-fan noises. Joan Chin, working the caller board at FAN, quickly put her professional instincts to work by slam-dunking the caller before he could be heard.

This led Francesa into a long and ugly tirade, not against knuckleheads inclined toward audio vandalism, but against Chin!

Francesa, claiming he wanted to ask the caller why he would play the fool, began to chew out Chin – and in a condescending, unkind fashion – for dumping the caller. It made for extremely uncomfortable listening. Without even being able to hear Chin’s defense, reasonable listeners were left with the distinct impression that Francesa had berated her, not only for doing her job, but for doing it well.

If Francesa had a gripe with Chin – even a legitimate one – it couldn’t wait until a commercial? If Francesa felt compelled to discuss this on the air at that moment, he couldn’t have done it in a less dictatorial fashion?

I’ve no doubt that no matter how much money one is paid, hosting a show like Francesa’s can, over the years and from time to time, take its toll. One can’t always be expected to offer judicious answers or to maintain a civil disposition.

But time to time, for Francesa, is becoming most of the time. And it makes me, and perhaps many others, long for the days when tuning in to hear Francesa’s take on matters was well worth the effort.